Riders In Scotland
by EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: Hiccup and Toothless are exploring the world and a storm forces them down near the castle Dunbroch. The intrepid adventuress quickly meets the firey young Prince Merad, but trouble follows Hiccup where ever she goes and soon finds her in Scotland. Fem! Hiccup. Male Merrida. Slight Merricup
1. The Storm

**Author's Note: I got hooked on the big four and I've been working on a Fem! Hiccup Universe for quite some time. Here's a fun little thing about how Hiccup and Male! Merida (Prince Merad) meet. Astrid is also gender bended in this, into Aster. **

Riders in Scotland

1\. The Storm

Hiccup and Toothless had been wandering for a little over a month. The young Viking girl had gotten it into her head to explore everywhere Toothless's wings could take her. She had even taken up map making as a hobby. One night there was a rather bad storm and Toothless and Hiccup had been forced down on an unknown cove and forced to hide in a nearby ruin. It could have been a castle at some point but it was nothing more than crumbling stone and a small underground chamber, where Toothless and Hiccup now crouched waiting out the storm.

At the same time, unknown to the two intrepid explorers, a few miles away the clan Dunbroch was battening down the hatches as well. But one member of the clan was not inside on this dark and stormy night. Prince Merad was missing again. He was a free spirit, always found wandering the moors and riding off on his faithful steed Angus and practicing his archery and swordplay. He had been out when the storm began. As the rain beat down on his curly red hair he realized he wasn't going to make it home tonight. He was close to the old ruins and made for safety there. He and Angus hid in one of the few standing structures remaining above ground. He was just glad Mordu was no more, or this would have been more dangerous than it already was. As the storm wore on Merad thought he heard someone but it couldn't be sure so he put it down to the wind. 

Hiccup shivered slightly. Toothless warbled.

"_You cold?_" Hiccup nodded. It had taken a while but after a year of working with Toothless she had finally learned dragonese. Toothless snuggled up closer to his rider. He was perfectly fine in this weather but Hiccup was soaking wet and shivering in her leathers. She had taken to wearing a bit more actual protection lately as their flights had been longer and farther into the unknown. After all their run ins with less than friendly natives Hiccup had decided it was best to be prepared with light leather armor that also helped her store her necessary tools like a small knife for sharpening charcoal pencils and occasionally getting samples of new plants, a compass and a book of paper sheets for her maps. She had also invested in a helmet that would not fall off during flights. It made her look a bit more like a dragon herself if Toothless was honest. It suited her. Her hair was a bit longer than it had been. She had taken to braiding several of the longer stands of her unevenly cut deep brown locks. She looked around as Toothless tented his wings above her. He was about to light a small fire but Hiccup put a hand on his muzzle to stop him. She had taken to speaking only dragonese to him, so she could practice it.

"_Wait. Did you hear that?"_ Toothless listened and did hear something above them. The sound of hooves and someone speaking. Hiccup recognized the language though she wasn't very good at it. She could understand the voice.

"We'll be alrigh' Angus. It's just a wee bit o' rain." The sound of hooves echoed above them as they started at the ceiling of stone and earth. Two sets of green eyes followed the sound of the horse as it was lead to the opening of the ruins. The dragon and his rider backed slowly into the darkest corner of the room, both blending nearly seamlessly with the shadows. After all Toothless wasn't a Night Fury for nothing. He wrapped his wings around Hiccup as a set of footsteps came down the crumbling stairs. Hiccup could just see between the pitch black wings wrapped around her. The figure was tall, six feet at least but in the dark that was about all she could make out about it. It fumbled with something and a few minutes later a torch was lit and Hiccup got a good look at the man who stood before her.

He was tall as she had first suspected, his hair was short but insanely curly and the brightest red she'd ever seen. His eyes were blue as the sea. He was quite handsome but the sword at his waist and bow at his back made him a threat. More to Toothless than her, she had discovered in her travels that many people sought the 'honor' of killing a dragon. More often than not a simple show of force could drive them back long enough for her and Toothless to get away but sometimes they did have to light something on fire to distract the villagers enough to leave mostly peacefully. She slowly slid on her helmet, she didn't want this man to see her face if they got caught just in case she had to go into the town nearby for supplies before they left she didn't want to be recognized. The storm had done a number on Toothless's tail fin material. And she'd already used the spare on this trip. If the fin was in too bad of a condition they wouldn't be able to fly at all.

The night and storm wore on as the oldest Prince of Dunbroch remained unaware of the strange pair he now shared the ruins of the old castle with. Hiccup drifted off to sleep a few times as did Merad but he remained unaware of the young dragon wrapped Viking.

Finally, after what felt to Hiccup like an eternity the underground chamber began to lighten slightly and the red haired man sat up straight cracking his neck and standing stiffly. He picked up what looked like a saddle bag from beside him and slung his bow around his shoulders. He clambered out of the chamber and the dragon and his rider relaxed slightly but did not move until they heard the sounds of hoofs galloping away. Only then did Toothless unwrap his wings from around Hiccup who sat up straight and cracked her back.

"_That was too close bud."_ The dragon nodded stretching his wings as much as he could in this confined space. Hiccup stood and pulled off her helmet, her leather armor was a bit too tight at the moment, wet leather had a horrible habit of shrinking, she'd discovered that the hard way and had taken to packing a few extra sets of clothing in her small saddle bags. She ignored her own discomfort for the moment and moved around Toothless as he stretched and scratched to get a good look at his tail. She swore loudly. The material of the tail fin was shredded beyond repair. She didn't have any extra, not that would work for the tail anyway. The fabric had to be tough like leather but moveable, she would have to go into that town she had spotted on their way down. She pulled a few things out of her saddle bags as she explained her plan to Toothless and changed into something more suitable. She knew vaguely where she was because of the red headed man's language so she knew what was appropriate to wear around others. That didn't mean she had to like it.

About twenty minutes later Hiccup climbed out of the cave dressed in a long green simple dress and brown leather belt. She had a small pouch of coins, almost all from different places, attached to her belt along with her small dagger. Her false foot made a soft sound on the stones of the path that lead to the castle Dunbroch and the market in the small town that was attached. Hiccup made her way as quickly as she could toward the town unaware of what waited for her. She thought she saw a glimpse of blue fire out of the corner of her eye but when she turned to look it was gone.


	2. The Market

**Author's Note: Unfortunately I do not own a copy of Brave, a fact I did not realize till about a week ago so you'll forgive me if I get a few details wrong as they are all coming off the internet. Just to clarify, yes this takes place after the events of Brave which were fundamentally the same just gender swapped. Same for HTTYD. I own nothing.**

2\. The Market

Hiccup arrived at the town almost none the worse for the two miles she had walked. There was a small tear in her skirt from where it had caught on her prosthetic leg. But aside from that she didn't look at all like she had been walking for the past hour. The market was crowded, full of large strong men, warriors it almost felt like home. If they hadn't all been so polite to her it would have been just like Berk. Hiccup pondered this as she searched for the right shop. The people, the men at least looked very similar to the men on Berk. Tall bearded and muscular, they dressed differently and were nicer but they weren't that different when it came to looks. The women on the other hand were quite different. They all had an air of royalty around them, at least that's what it felt like to Hiccup. They were all being escorted by a man and cast anything from confused glances to pitying glares at Hiccup. Hiccup just shrugged it off, used to being the odd one out at home.

The only real difference between this place and Berk was the size. Berk was a relatively small village with a scattering of houses, a single forge, a great hall carved into the mountain of the island and a few scattered farms. This place was gargantuan in comparison. It had three forges spaced out around the market, each seeming to specialize in something different, one in weapons, another in everyday household metal items and another in specialty items, mostly for horses. There were several fruit stands and people selling baked goods on the side of the street. Hiccup paused at a small boy selling large red apples out of a small cart. He couldn't have been older than ten. What had caught her eye was that he was missing most of his leg. She crouched down and struck up a conversation with him.

Merad was annoyed again. He had arrived home earlier that morning, sore and slightly unnerved. He had spent the night at the old ruins and still couldn't shake the thought that someone had been watching him. But that wasn't what had him annoyed, no what had him annoyed was that he was babysitting his three younger brothers for the day. Harris, Hubert and Hamish were notorious for causing trouble and while they usually behaved around him he was not looking forward to explaining the trouble they were going to get into at the market. He hadn't expected that trouble to start by them practically running over a pretty young brunette as she stood up from in front of the young crippled boy, Conner who sold apples that he grew himself.

Hiccup had no idea what hit her as whatever it was bowled her off her feet. She closed her eyes and braced for impact but it never came. Instead something caught her around her waist just before she fell. She blinked and found herself face to face with the man from the night before who had caught her inches before she would have fallen to the stones of the street. He was actually quite handsome up close. Hiccup blushed to the roots of her hair as he set her on her feet.

"Sorry 'bout my brothers, they can be a bit of a handful." He glared at the three boys who stood with their hands behind their backs and slight grins on their faces. Hiccup shook her head.

"It's ok. It happens." Merad looked the girl over as she brushed off her skirt. She was a foot or so shorter than him with messy brown hair and the biggest green eyes he'd ever seen. She had a few freckles scattered over her cheeks and a small scar on her chin. There was a tear in her skirt and just visible beyond it was a metal foot in place of a real one. She was armed with a small dagger at her waist and had a small ouch on the other side of her belt. Her speech was careful and a bit fragmented, like she didn't know the language. She smiled slightly and Merad noticed that her two front teeth were slightly larger than the others. The overall effect made her something between pretty and beautiful. The closest word he could come up with to describe her was cute. But it was pretty clear that she wasn't from around here.

"I'm still sorry. What's your name?"

"My names Hiccup." Merad raised an eyebrow. The girl nodded.

"Yeah I know. Anyway I gotta go. Thanks." She turned on her false heel and walked away. When she turned the corner Merad knelt down and ruffled Conner's hair, handing him a few coins for an apple.

"So Conner who's she?" The young boy smiled.

"She's a nice lady. She bought two apples and told me an amazing story about how she lost her foot. She fought a dragon! She said I could be a warrior too if I wanted. But I like selling my apples, I meet nice people doing this. Like her and you Prince Merad!" The young boy grinned again and Merad ruffled his hair one more time as he stood and bit into the apple. He didn't believe that the waif of a girl he had met could take on a dragon, let alone walk away from it, one legged or not. But she did interest him, she was something new and he wanted to learn all he could from her. He glanced down at his brothers. They might be younger than him but he knew they knew the town better than anyone.

"So boys I've got a little mission for us."

A few hours later Hiccup had the fabric she needed and was headed out of the town. She had the feeling that she had been watched and she had run into that red haired boy a few other times but they hadn't had the chance to talk. Hiccup was worried he might have spotted her and Toothless the night before and managed to slip off every time she spotted him. She sighed in relief as she slipped back into the forest. Another blue light caught her eye. This time she paused and turned to see a small blue creature floating about three feet away from her. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before, it definitely wasn't a dragon that much she knew. She was curious but she knew she needed to get back to Toothless before she investigated. She hurried off down the path. She glanced back once and saw another of the blue flame creatures, she shook her head and walked faster.


	3. Wisps

**Author's Note: The villain of this piece is something you will only recognize if you've seen the TV series. If you have awesome it's pretty fun. If you haven't go do so. Not the new one on Netflix I haven't seen that one yet though I'm pretty sure from the commercials he's in it too. I own nothing.**

3\. Wisps 

Toothless was delighted to see his friend again especially because she had a length of folded cloth under her arm. That meant she was going to fix up his tail and they would go on more adventures. She grinned her crocked grin when he bounded up to the edge of the opening and pulled himself up to tackle his rider, careful to avoid the fabric. She laughed as he licked her face. She turned her head away and laughed until he finally let her up.

"_You know that doesn't wash out bud! I got the tailfin fabric we needed. We'll be out of here before anyone else knows we were here."_ Hiccup pulled out a few tools from the small bag attached to Toothless' saddle and began to work on the tail fin. About an hour later the fin was fixed and Hiccup had changed back into her now dry leathers. She patted Toothless on the head and grinned.

"_That should do it bud."_ Both of them whirled as they heard a sound from the forest behind them. A small blue flame creature floated at the entrance to the forest. Toothless growled slightly but after sniffing the air for a few moments stopped and tilted his head in curiosity.

"_What is that thing bud?"_ Toothless shrugged and began to walk towards it, stalking it like he did the light that reflected off a shield.

"_I don't know but I think I want to lick it."_ Hiccup laughed.

"_You want to lick practically everything, especially when you don't know what it is! Remember how sick that got you last time."_ Toothless paused but continued forward anyway. Hiccup rolled her eyes and followed her dragon. When they were a few scant inches away from the creature it vanished. Hiccup frowned and Toothless whined.

"_Do you think I scared it away?"_ Hiccup held in a giggle.

"_Maybe it heard your plan to lick it bud. Wait look there's another one. Bud there's quite a few of them lined up. You thinking what I'm thinking?"_ Toothless grinned a gummy grin.

"_We should follow them, yes."_ Hiccup grinned and hopped onto the saddle, it was very difficult for a one legged Viking to keep up with a dragon even on foot. Hiccup slipped on her helmet to keep her hands free just in case they ran into trouble. She patted Toothless between the ears and they ventured off into the forest, following the mysterious blue lights.

They reached a cliff a few moments later and Hiccup glanced around. The blue lights had disappeared and she could find no sign that they had ever been there to begin with. She frowned. This cliff was way too close to the town for her comfort level. Then something on the horizon caught her eye. She squinted but she couldn't make it out.

_"__Wanna get a closer look bud?" _Toothless nodded and spread his wings. They soared into the evening sky unaware that someone had spotted them from the ground.

Merad stared up at the shape as it vanished into the black of the oncoming night. He had only seen it defined for a second as the beast had spread its wings but there had definitely been a person sitting on the back of a beast that had jumped out of every tale of old he had ever heard. It had been a dragon, black as the night that now set in. Merad turned Angus around and they galloped back to the castle, he had to tell someone about this before this dragon and its rider became a threat.

What Prince Merad didn't know was that Toothless and Hiccup were now flying above the real threat, concealed by the blackness of the night. It was really hard for Hiccup not to swear aloud when she saw the symbol emblazoned on the sails of ships. It depicted the only dragon she had failed to train, a skrill. And that meant that she knew who these ships belonged to. She and Toothless flew higher into the night sky and flew around the ships one more time to see just how many there were here, they were lucky, he hadn't brought the whole armada. But she didn't know if he was here for her and Toothless or not but it could be nothing good. She and Toothless turned around and headed back for the ruins. The ships would not arrive for another day, they had some time to plan.

Meanwhile on the cliffs near the ruins five figures waited in the gathering mist. The tallest one was keeping watch while the others stood grouped together along with the monstrous figures that loomed around them. One of them snorted.

"How do you even know they came this way Aster? This is stupid." The tallest one sighed pushing his blonde hair out of his face.

"Because, Tuffnut, Stormfly said so. She says this whole place smells like a nightfury and given what we found floating in the ocean a few miles back they would have had to land on the nearest patch of land they could find." The next biggest one nodded looking scarred. He wasn't the same kind of big that Aster was, the tall blonde was made out of muscle and had recently hit a growth spurt that made him the tallest one in the group. Fishlegs on the other hand was still mostly made of what his mother liked to call lovable fluff. Snotlout, who was pouting near his dragon was the smallest off the men in the group, small but stocky. Tuffnut scoffed.

"She carries a spare duh, she's like the most prepared person that ever existed." His sister, Ruffnut, slapped him on the back of the head and pointed to a piece of cloth sticking out of Aster's pocket.

"You idiot, that is her spare! Right Fishface?" Fishlegs nodded and then glared at her looking a bit hurt. Before anyone could say anything a shadow crossed the moon. If Aster hadn't been looking for it he'd never have spotted it at all as it glided down towards them then veered suddenly left and vanished. Aster turned to Snotlout.

"Your turn." He sighed.

"How come I always gotta be the one signaling people? It's a stupid job for a warrior of my caliber." Aster glared.

"You're the only one with a monstrous nightmare you idiot!" Snotlout looked at his dragon which was trying to take a nap.

"Oh yeah." He tapped Hookfang on the nose and made a motion with his hand . The large red dragon lazily stood and lit itself on fire waving its tail in the air in circles. After a few tense moments the shadow Aster had spotted was landing next to them, revealed to be Toothless and Hiccup. She didn't look too happy to see them.

"Yeah I know I've been away from Berk for too long and my dad sent you lot after me. But that's not important right now." Aster raised an eyebrow. Fishlegs looked excited.

"Is there a new dragon?" Hiccup shook her head.

"No, there's something else in these woods but I don't think they are a threat, I'll tell you about them later. What's important right now is that!" She pointed into the distance, towards the ocean. The others all raised eyebrows.

"There's a fleet of ships headed this way, and I know who's on it." Snotlout rolled his eyes and stepped forward so he was no longer leaning on his dragon which stretched its head over to nuzzle Hiccup's hair. The two had made up long ago and the monstrous nightmare was now quite fond of the young girl he had once tried to violently murder. Toothless growled and the larger dragon retreated. Toothless wrapped his tail around Hiccups legs making it abundantly clear to the other dragons, and their slightly confused riders, that Hiccup was his and no one else should touch her without his express permission. Hiccup sighed and turned to Toothless and raised an eyebrow.

"_What! He got too close to my human!" _ Hiccup laughed slightly as Hookfang grumbled an apology. Meatlug chuckled while Barf and Belch argued over what they were going to set on fire next. Stormfly laughed and warbled.

"_I get close to your human all the time."_ Toothless turned his bright green eyes to the deadly nadder.

"_You don't count, your human and mine want to be mates."_ Hiccup and Aster, the only two of the teens who actually spoke dragoneese fluently, both blushed bright red and spluttered. Hiccup collected herself first and growled at the dragons.

"_Enough! We have real problems right now!"_ Aster took this opportunity to change the subject and the language for the benefit of the other teens who all, with the exception of Fishlegs who was fascinated by the language and in the process of learning it, looked rather annoyed.

"What problem is that? What ships are you talking about?" Hiccup took a deep breath.

"The berserkers are going to be here within a day." There was deadly silence from all present.


	4. The Battle Begins

**Author's Note: Bwahahaha. I know you all hate my cliffhangers but I think they are fun. Anywhose… Not much to say here. Just that what I know of Scottish myth is scattered at best. I do know that at least one story mentions dragons so yeah. It works. Also this explains where Astrid's, or in this case Aster's, little speech to Drago in HTTYD 2 comes from so expect some violence. I own nothing. Review please!**

4\. The Battle Begins

Merad arrived home practically in a panic. He ran around his mother who was trying to chastise him for leaving his brothers alone in the market to go looking for some visitor to the town, something about them destroying a stand. He didn't have time to make it up to her right now, he had to find his father. When he did he found him in the armory regaling one of the newer guards with his tales of heroism. The young man had been having a bit of a hard time fitting in so Fergus and the others had made it their secret mission to make him feel at home in the castle. But Merad couldn't think about that right now.

"Da' I need to talk to you!" He was out of breath and clearly freaking out so Fergus dismissed the guard and sat Merad down.

"What's wrong lad?" Merad took a deep breath and explained what he had seen.

"There was a dragon in the woods today. I saw the beast with my own eyes. Black as night with a…" Fergus interrupted his son, eyes serious.

"Are you sure son?" Merad nodded.

"Yes I am, but Da' there was something else." Fergus held up a hand.

"Come with me." Fergus took his son into the library and searched for a few moments until he found what he was looking for. He pulled a dusty old tome off of the shelf and flipped it open ignoring the dust that made Merad sneeze. He began to read off the page in front of him.

"Great wars… Blah blah blah… Ah here we are. 'In the times before the great kings and chiefs made peace the land was not ruled solely by man. Beasts of fire roamed freely devouring sheep and cattle at their own whim. They laid waste to the land, forcing the clans to join together to defeat the beasts, the beasts they called dragons. The battle raged for years before one bold man stepped forward and nearly singlehandedly drove the dragons out of their homeland with nothing but steel and sinew. Though this brave warrior, Scald the Slayer, did not survive, the dragons left and have never been seen in this land to this day.' Merad, if you saw what you say you saw then we could all be in for the fight of our lives." There was a pounding on the library door.

"Enter!" Fergus called out and the door opened to reveal another of the castle guards.

"My king, there is a fleet of eight or so battle ships approaching the bay. They will reach us within the day. They fly no flag, but have the image of a dragon emblazoned on their sails." Fergus swore loudly.

"Understood, call the lards to the great hall for a war meeting." The guard nodded and left. Merad grabbed his father's arm before he could leave.

"Da' that's what I was trying to tell you. The dragon I saw, there was a person riding it as if it were a horse!" Fergus paled.

"That can mean nothing but trouble fer us. Come we have much to do and no time to do it." Merad followed Fergus out of the library and to the great hall for his first war meeting.

Hiccup and the other riders had spent the night planning out what to do. It had been decided that they could not leave the town to the mercy of the berserkers. Especially since Hiccup had a hunch that they had been following her to begin with, because if they hadn't this was the biggest coincidence in all of history.

They mounted up a little after midday knowing the fleet would be approaching the bay near the town by now. Aster, whose dragon was closest to the color of the clear blue sky, had done some recon near the town and found that they were also preparing for battle but they had clearly never faced a berserker before, they were not evacuating the town, simply boarding closed windows and doors. That would not hold a berserker back.

"Ok so everyone clear on the plan?" Hiccup asked slightly concerned that Ruff and Tuff had not been listening. Fishlegs raised his hand.

"Yes Fishlegs?" He twiddled his fingers together.

"Have you considered that they might not be, ummm nice when they see our dragons. I mean most villages panic and try to kill them." Hiccup nodded, scratching Toothless behind the ear.

"I have considered that but I've also considered what would happen if we don't help, a lot of people are gonna get hurt if we don't do something. Because of me and Toothless and I'm not gonna stand for that. If you don't want to get involved that's fine, this has been my fight from the beginning and I really think it's about time to give Dagur a taste of his own medicine." Snotlout laughed.

"You think we're gonna let you hog all the glory? No way!" Ruff and Tuff shook their heads, and Aster grinned. Fishlegs nodded and mounted Meatlug.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this but Snotlout is right. We're with you Hiccup." Tuffnut laughed and then got a confused look on his face.

"So wait what was the plan again?" Hiccup sighed and began to explain again.

The clan Dunbroch was preparing for war on two fronts. They had no idea if the dragon and its rider were a threat but they had to assume that they had something to do with the ships that were rapidly closing in. A scout had spotted eight ships but in truth the number was closer to ten, each ship carrying ten men at least armed to the teeth. As the ships entered the bay a screeching whistle came from nowhere. The inhabitants of the town and castle had no idea what was going on but the men on the ship seemed to fear the noise as they all ducked low and several screamed in another language that Merad knew only a little of.

"Nightfury!" A much louder, more insane voice simply shouted,

"YOU!" as one of the ships towards the front blew in a blaze of purple and a black blur tore through the sky. At the same moment several of the men from the other ships jumped out and made to swim for shore but a whooshing noise was the only warning as a line of spikes flew from the sky embedding in the sand at the edge of the beach preventing the men's escape onto dry land, negating their threat to the town for the moment. Several of the other ships began loading catapults as four dragons flew out of the cloud layer each ridden by a different person, there was even a dragon with two heads ridden by two riders. The black blur blazed across the sky again and another of the closer ships blew. The blur slowed enough for Merad, who stood with the other archers on top of the tallest tower, to see the figure from the night before. She almost looked like a dragon herself, her helmet similar to the head of a dragon, even with spikes along the seam at the back.

"Yes me Dagur! Why not come up here and fight like a man? Oh that's right you can't cause Toothless and I freed the skrill." The man in the helmet on the only lead ship that was not on fire growled and screamed in rage at the top of his lungs and yelled to his men to fire the catapults and take down the nightfury.

"You take down the dragons! You fire at the town!" Dagur was in a rage which was part of Hiccups plan. The riders scattered as large rocks flew their way, away from the town. Hiccup and Toothless took off like a shot, once again melting into a black blur of motion as they took down two of the catapults aiming at the town. The other two got off their shots and Hiccup swore as the large rocks sailed towards the town and the castle. She made a split second decision and they raced after the large boulder headed for the practically defenseless town. One shot from Toothless and it shattered into pebbles that rained down harmlessly.

The other boulder slammed into the wall of the castle and shook it violently. Everyone on the roof grabbed for handholds and tried to steady themselves but Merad slipped and plummeted off the edge of the roof towards the ground below.


	5. Teaming Up

**Author's Note: See previous laughter. I own nothing. Review please.**

5\. Teaming Up

Merad grasped his bow tightly as he closed his eyes, preparing for the end. He heard his mother scream and his father roar with anger. Then suddenly he wasn't falling anymore. Something had grabbed him by the shoulders and was carrying him through the air. A voice above him growled a question to the dragon that had caught him and then suddenly he was in the air again, landing behind the female rider he had spotted the night before. The dragon under him gained speed and he grabbed hold of the girl on instinct not wanting to fall off. There were cheers from below.

"You alright?" The voice came from in front of him, slightly muffled by the helmet but he could swear he'd heard that voice before. But he couldn't have.

"Yes, I think so." The rider nodded then seemed to switch back to the language the people on the ships were using.

"Snotlout, Fishlegs! Take out those catapults! Aster, Ruff, Tuff keep them on the ships, take out as many as you can." The tall blonde one on the blue dragon nodded and led the twins on the two headed dragon to the other ships. The rider in front of Merad switched languages again.

"What's your name?" As she asked the dragon they rode blasted another ship. The girl didn't seem to notice.

"Merad, firstborn son of the clan Dunbroch." That seemed to make her pause for a second as they zoomed past another ship drawing fire away from the town.

"Well ok then Merad, you know how to use that bow?" He nodded a bit incensed but still slightly shell shocked that he was on the back of a dragon to do much.

"Good, then you should use it." The rider's speech was slightly broken, like she didn't know much of the language and that made Merad look down at her feet, the idea he'd had moments before taking hold once more as he saw her false foot, the left one. But he didn't have much time to contemplate that as they swerved to avoid a volley of crossbow bolts.

Merad had had a lot of practice shooting from atop a moving steed. One of his favorite pastimes was to ride Angus through the forest and shoot targets he'd set up. But this was something entirely different. He had never been on a mount that went as fast as this beast. But he was not one to back down from a challenge. He drew back his bow and took aim, firing at the man who was yelling orders at the others on the ships. He missed but only by inches and only because they had taken a sudden sharp turn down. The girl cursed in the language she was using to instruct the others as they started to drag down. Merad looked over his shoulder and saw a hook caught in what appeared to be a false fin attached where the dragons left fin should be.

"Shit. Take the reins." With that she pulled her right foot off the saddle and swung it over the dragon. Merad shifted forward unsure of what he should do, that was when the girl dropped off the dragon entirely. Grabbing hold of the rope on the way down she pulled a knife out of her sleeve and sliced the rope. The black dragon took off and Merad grabbed hold tighter, trying to position his feet but the left stirrup still had the false foot attached to it. Then Merad spotted the chords and rods connecting the stirrup to the false tailfin. He glanced back to see the blue dragon swooping to catch the girl before she fell into the water.

"Nice catch Stormfly! Now get me back to Toothless so we can finish this!" The dragon nodded and flew up to where Toothless was circling unable to change course. Hiccup waited for a second before patting Stormfly's claw. She dropped her and Hiccup landed on Toothless's back in front of the boy who still clung there for dear life. She felt a searing pain in her side but ignored it as she hooked her false foot back to her leg and they sped off.

Merad flinched and grabbed hold of the girl around her waist as another ship blew, then another, then another. As the fourth blew Merad noticed something warm and wet on his hand. He glanced down and saw a slice through her side, blood pooling on his shirt and in his hand.

"Yer' hit wee lass." She didn't seem to notice he had even spoken. The dragon however did. The rest of the ships, save one, were on fire, men either dead or treading water near the beach where the warriors of Dunbroch were waiting for them.

"Snotlout, pick up Dagur!" The boy on the large red dragon swooped down and snatched up the last man on board the last ship standing. One last blast from the black dragon and the final ship blew and the girl wobbled on her dragon.

Aster was slightly confused as Hiccup turned Toothless to the town and set him down on the beach. That wasn't part of the plan. He expected her to take back off into the woods like they had planned but then he saw her wobble and slump down in the saddle as the boy behind her got off Toothless. He and the other dragon riders landed around her. Aster vaulted off Stormfly and snatched Hiccup from the red haired boy. She was almost unconscious, a deep cut in her side still leaking blood. She smiled at him weakly.

"Hey. You look really handsome when you're scared." She giggled slightly as he took off her helmet tossing it to Fishlegs who almost dropped it.

"Yes and you're adorable when you're bleeding a lot, just stay awake ok?" Hiccup nodded slightly.

Merad spotted the girl's face as the blonde ripped off her helmet and threw it. She was the girl from the marketplace. The black dragon nuzzled his rider. Merad was frozen for a second before he remembered that they were on the beach with his father and the warriors of Dunbroch. She had saved his life it was his turn.

"We need help! Someone get a healer!"


End file.
